Sky 5

This article is about the pay-per-view New Zealand television network. For the unrelated British TV network bearing this network's 1998 name, see Sky One.

Sky 5

Country	New Zealand
Programming
Picture format	1080i (HDTV) 16:9
Ownership
Owner	Sky Network Television
Sister channels	Sky Open Vibe Jones! Sky Movies
History
Launched	3 December 1994 (1994-12-03)
Former names	Orange(1994-1998), Sky1(1998-2008), The Box(2008-2018)
Links
Website	Official Site
Availability
Streaming media
Sky Go	skygo.co.nz

Sky 5 is a television channel in New Zealand available on Sky.

The channel's programmes are a variety of international shows, for example CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Simpsons, WWE, The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow, Tour of Duty, Hardcore Pawn and Pawn Stars.

History

The channel started broadcasting on 3 December 1994 as Orange on Sky UHF pre-set channel 7. Orange broadcast between 10am and around 11:30pm and during 1995 Juice TV began broadcasting overnight when Orange went off the air. On 1 January 1997, Cartoon Network began broadcasting between 6am and 4pm while Orange was not broadcasting. The reason to name the channel based on a colour and its brand identity be a fruit was due to the design agency, Lambie Nairn, which had also designed the 1991 BBC Two Idents and the 1982 Channel 4 launch idents in the United Kingdom, had found out the New Zealand TV market had an overcrowded space for general entertainment networks, and thus had made the channels branding to be different.

Orange changed its name to Sky 1 on 1 June 1998 and introduced overnight programming, with The Simpsons debuting on 7 July 1998 with the first ever episode. The channel began broadcasting 24 hours a day on 1 January 1999 when the Sky Digital service was launched; however, the UHF channel continued to screen Cartoon Network between 6am-4pm and in 2000 this was replaced with Nickelodeon.

In 2005, Sky Network Television considered unencrypting Sky 1 to make it a free-to-air channel, but decided instead to purchase the existing network, Prime.

Sky 1 relaunched on 1 February 2008 and in the process its name was changed to The Box.

On 2 February 2018, exactly 10 years and one day after the channel relaunched as The Box, it rebranded for the third time in its history, as Sky 5.

Programming

This is a list of Sky 5's programming as of December 2024, which is a mix of American, British, and Australian TV imports with a small amount of New Zealand shows, with WWE primarily the sporting events airing on the channel.
Entertainment

• Channel Patrol
  
• FBI: Most Wanted
  
• Ghosts of Beirut
  
• Go On
  
• Lockerbie
  
• Parks and Recreation
  
• Quantum Leap
  
• South Beach Tow
  
• The Enemy Within
  
• The Last Kingdom
  
• The Mentalist
  
• The Middle
  
• Territory Cops
  
• Traffic Cops
  

Sport

• WWE Raw

Former logos

• 
  1994–1998 (as Orange)
• 
  1998–2008 (as Sky 1)
• 
  2008-2018 (as The Box)

External links

• Official website